Lobster Loose - Run for your lives 2.0

Celebrating Jacob @ 14

I was up around 6am to some really cold temps. Only 22 degrees at least according to the Weather Channel. The skies were clear though which meant the sun would warm things up a bit once it made its ascent. For the time being, however, it was simply going to feel more like winter. Mindy was actually up just ahead of me to preheat the oven and start cinnamon rolls for Jacob’s birthday.

Took care of exercises and then delivered Mindy’s coffee. I put Jacob’s cinnamon rolls in the preheated oven, too. After enjoying coffee and internet, I pulled the cinnamon rolls out of the oven about 10 minutes later. Mindy was surprised to come down and find them done. I wasn’t sure how we would’ve pulled off the early AM b-day celebration otherwise. Mindy even woke Bella for the occasion, insisting she come down and sing the birthday song before Jacob needed to leave for school. We sang and took photos shortly before Jacob left for school.

Shortly before it was time for Jacob to head out, I warned him that it was really cold. He, after all, was dressed in shorts. He said he already knew. He headed out in the cold shortly before 7am. Mindy opted to leave for school earlier than usual too. Think she left by 715am. I planned to run as soon as Bella was off to school. Ahead of that I walked the pug, stretched and meditated.

It was 745am when Bella came running down the stairs giving me all sorts of attitude for not waking her again. Huh? Apparently after celebrating Jacob Bella headed back upstairs for more sleep. She had 14 minutes to finish her ready, which was more than enough. I didn’t appreciate the disrespectful tone, though. Bella finished her ready with a couple minutes to spare and I gave her hug before she headed out the door to catch the bus.

Shortly after the bus pulled away, I was out the door for my run. Ran the full 4.1 miles in the cold, wearing full winter garb, including hand and ear covers. And based on the 10 day forecast, perhaps for the last time this season. No more sub-freezing temps on the immediate horizon.

Whipped up ham & eggs for the pug and I once back at home. Ate, showered, and prepared for work over the next hour or so. A few of us had lunch plans with the customer. As such, I only packed a few snacks just in case the plans fell through. It’s happened before. I headed across town around 945am arriving about 25 minutes later. By then, the brilliant sunshine made it feel a whole lot warmer.

As mentioned earlier, me, my boss, and a peer had a lunch plans with the customer. However, sometimes the best laid plan goes awry. And it turned out, Wednesday’s lunch plans fell into that category. Just 30 minutes before all of us were scheduled to meet the plans fell apart. Long story short, my boss and peer opted to meet for lunch anyway. We changed the venue from Bar Louie’s to On the Border. Still fairly early – only 1130am – we were well in front of the lunch crowds. There might’ve been one other table occupied when we first arrived.

Before we ordered entrees we enjoyed a few baskets of freshly made nachos with salsa. And On the Border’s might be the best in town, certainly better than El Vaq and Chipotle. And truth be told, I would’ve been fine with just chips & salsa. I am sure our server wouldn’t have been pleased. We all ordered entrees, me the green chili carnitas tacos. They were really good, too. Lunch was great. We used the hour to discuss our strategy moving forward. Dropped my boss back at his car nearby then headed back to the office where I finished out my work day.

It was Jacob’s 16th birthday, and to celebrate, we had dinner plans at the Sawmill Rd Red Lobster. However, it was a Jimaken night, too, so he still picked the kids up around 430-5pm. He, Molly and the kids planned to meet Mindy and I there at 7pm. Mindy and I left the house around 615pm. Didn’t take more than about 20 minutes to swing around 270 and arrive at the new Red Lobster. Not that big of a crowd at all. Still, when we asked for a table for six, they told us we’d have a 5-10 minute wait. Huh? The place was next to empty! It must just be standard protocol so that they can line-up resources – a server. Soon we were seated in an enormous booth, bib enough to seat 10 if necessary. At the time it was just Mindy & I. Seemed a bit over kill.

While waiting on the others, we went ahead and ordered drinks, me raspberry lemonade and Mindy only water. Jimaken and the kids showed up about 10 minutes after us. I went to the lobby to announce our table. Molly still was present. Until then, I assumed she was arriving with them. That wasn’t the case. She apparently had an after work event that she needed to attend. We waited for her arrival, but did order some appetizers shortly after she called to share that she was near. We ordered her a Diet Coke too.

Molly showed up around 715pm apologizing for being late. No worries. Mindy shared that we had all night. Uh, sort of. About then our appetizers arrived, muscles and deep fried green beans and dipping sauce. Both were quite good. We also went through three or four baskets of their yummy rolls, which are always a big hit with Jacob, who loves Red Lobster.

Bella ordered crab from the kids menu, and Molly ordered muscles as an entrée. The rest of us ordered a version of the seafood feast, which came with a lobster tail, scampi, and fried shrimp. Others did a replacement here or there. All the entrees came with salad and rice. My dinner plate looked far from the menu picture but it was still pretty good.

Mindy told our server, who was very attentive, that it was Jacob’s birthday. He rounded up some of the crew and came over and sang happy birthday. Jacob declined dessert for being too full. We split the check 4/2. And while the kids arrived with their dad, they rode home with us. There was a Canada goose nesting in the Red Lobster parking lot right next to the Accord. Could see that it was sitting on a bed of eggs. I was prepared to defend myself as I got into the car. It didn’t make any aggressive moves. Good thing!

Arrived home near 9pm. Jacob complained of an upset stomach. Mindy gave him some Tums. I headed to bed before 930pm with a full stomach.